August17th

Thousands streamed into a Seattle waterfront park Friday for the opening of a three-day marijuana festival — an event that is part party, part protest and part victory celebration after the legalization of pot in Washington and Colorado last fall.

“This is going to be the biggest year for Hempfest,” said Jack Beattie, an 18-year-old Seattle University student, as he shared a joint with two friends. “In past years, people were a little bit sketched out about smoking in public. Now, there’s going to be a lot more.”

The free, annual event was expected to draw as many as 85,000 people per day. On Friday, many strolled by vendor stands, joints in hand as they checked out colorful glass pipes, tie-dyed clothing, bags of “ideal cultivation soil,” and hemp wares, including purses and necklaces.

Others sprawled on the grass in the steamy sunshine, listening to bands and speeches, or lit bongs on the beach and watched ferries cross Elliott Bay.

Hempfest is in its 22nd year of advocating for the legalization of marijuana, and this is the first time it’s been held since last fall, when Washington’s vo. . . . . READ MORE

August17th

Thousands streamed into a Seattle waterfront park Friday for the opening of a three-day marijuana festival — an event that is part party, part protest and part victory celebration after the legalization of pot in Washington and Colorado last fall.

“This is going to be the biggest year for Hempfest,” said Jack Beattie, an 18-year-old Seattle University student, as he shared a joint with two friends. “In past years, people were a little bit sketched out about smoking in public. Now, there’s going to be a lot more.”

The free, annual event was expected to draw as many as 85,000 people per day. On Friday, many strolled by vendor stands, joints in hand as they checked out colorful glass pipes, tie-dyed clothing, bags of “ideal cultivation soil,” and hemp wares, including purses and necklaces.

Others sprawled on the grass in the steamy sunshine, listening to bands and speeches, or lit bongs on the beach and watched ferries cross Elliott Bay.

June19th

For the activists who led the effort to legalize recreational marijuana in Washington state last fall, Jamen Shively was one of their biggest fears: an aspiring pot profiteer whose unabashed dreams of building a cannabis empire might attract unwanted attention from the federal government or a backlash that could slow the marijuana reform movement across the country.

With visionary zeal, the 45-year-old former Microsoft manager described his plans to a conference room packed with reporters and supporters last month, saying he was tired of waiting for a green light from the Obama administration, which still hasn’t said how it will respond to the legalization of recreational pot in Washington and Colorado. Shively vowed to quickly raise $10 million and eventually build his company, Diego Pellicer, into an international pot powerhouse.

Though he promised a “cautious and measured” expansion, Shively’s approach nevertheless contrasted with that of state regulators who want to avoid repeating the national experience with Big Tobacco and Big Alcohol, in. . . . . READ MORE